project Management
Textbook: Kendrick, T. (2006). Results without authority: Controlling a project when the team doesn’t report to you. New York: AMACOM.
Kendrick discusses the project charter, which defines a project, in chapter 5. Usually the project charter is written by senior management; it authorizes the project leader to proceed with the execution of a project. The charter provides project leaders with the broad authority over all the elements associated with a project. In that sense it is a method of control over a project team where direct authority is lacking. Through the project charter, the project team members know that senior management stands behind the project and their failure to perform will be made known to their functional managers.
Consider the following:
Company XYZ’s board of directors has approved a project to build a new assembly line for widgets in an existing plant. The new assembly line will be fully automated, thus requiring relatively few employees, and will cost in the area of $10 million. This has become a high priority project because the existing plant, located in the United States with a relatively high manpower requirement, cannot compete against low-cost Chinese imports. But having an automated production line, coupled with certain advantages of having a plant within the United States, would restore the competitiveness of the company and turn growing losses around into profits. For that reason, completing the project in the shortest possible time is of utmost importance to the company.
Review the major parts of a project charter outlined in Kendrick chapter 5. Write a project charter for the project just described above, including as much detail as possible. (You may invent certain details if you wish, but anything you invent must fit into the general parameters given in the previous paragraph description.) The charter will be signed by the XYZ board of directors and given to the project leader as the directive to proceed with the project
